I don't post often, but I was kind of curious as to what a few posters' opinions are on a rather prominent lifter's ideas (on another forum) on modifying lat width. I do not know what the technique is, seeing as he refuses to post it online (for fear of novices injuring themselves), but it apparently involves extreme stretching and promises a good deal of additional lat width (though he admittedly does not know the science of it).

Apparently, it was also first mentioned in some printed newsletters back in the day; just interested in what some peoples' thoughts are on this as a legitimate technique, whether they would bother with it, etc. - thanks.

I would bother with it if my goal was to stand on stage with IFBB pro's or Olympia contestants. I wouldn't pay any attention to it otherwise. My personal opinion is you save the extreme techniques for when you have built the extreme body to go with it, not before. If you are worried about this with a chest measurement under 51", you may have other things that need attention first.

MickyGee wrote:I don't post often, but I was kind of curious as to what a few posters' opinions are on a rather prominent lifter's ideas (on another forum) on modifying lat width. I do not know what the technique is, seeing as he refuses to post it online (for fear of novices injuring themselves), but it apparently involves extreme stretching and promises a good deal of additional lat width (though he admittedly does not know the science of it).

Apparently, it was also first mentioned in some printed newsletters back in the day; just interested in what some peoples' thoughts are on this as a legitimate technique, whether they would bother with it, etc. - thanks.

This is the only thing Dante has written about that always struck me as suspect. If I remember correctly it was a particular technique/stretch that moved the actual "structure" of your body... Very unlikely to say the least.

Surely if this were true there would be at least 1 before/after photo, no?

If nothing else the DC guys that he has shown this to should have a NOTICEABLY wider back than the people who have not been lucky enough to be privy to this technique, given that their structure has been altered.

In any event, he has personally stated he will never write about it so its really a moot point. Given that, and its LOW probability of even existing/working... Its certainly not something I would lose sleep over.

Lonnie123 wrote:This is the only thing Dante has written about that always struck me as suspect. If I remember correctly it was a particular technique/stretch that moved the actual "structure" of your body... Very unlikely to say the least.

Surely if this were true there would be at least 1 before/after photo, no?

If nothing else the DC guys that he has shown this to should have a NOTICEABLY wider back than the people who have not been lucky enough to be privy to this technique, given that their structure has been altered.

In any event, he has personally stated he will never write about it so its really a moot point. Given that, and its LOW probability of even existing/working... Its certainly not something I would lose sleep over.

Just to clarify - there are actually three techniques I heard of (lat width being one of them) - and I believe there do exist before/after photos (and probably copies of newsletters with the initial techniques). Also, there are a lot of hints as to what is involved in threads on Dante's forum.

Just curious what some more experienced individuals feel about structurally "popping out your lats" like this (Dante himself said he thought it might involve tearing cartilage or ligament or something, but then retracted it immediately after it apparently caused a bunch of controversy and he admitted that he had no idea how it worked - and that he was just taking a probably uneducated guess).

I'd hang on the I-beam in my basement with a semi-wide grip. There's this thing that I'd do with my shoulders that would literally seem to dislocate my scapulae and they'd "pop" close to the sides of my ribcage. I would hang there in that position until my grip gave out. I did this every day for over a year. Sometimes the scapulae would get stuck there for a moment, or I could control them and keep 'em there for a bit. I believe his was one of the reasons I had a very good v-taper even before I built the muscle mass to legitimize a real v-taper. LOL

I started showing this hanging trick off in gym class. When my scapulae popped out, the reaction was always, "Ew, man! That's gross!"

lol

EDIT TO ADD: Upon further thinking, I'm guessing that much of my poor shoulder health to this day has had to do with obsessively practicing this technique during the years of my young body growing.

Lonnie123 wrote:Surely if this were true there would be at least 1 before/after photo, no?

there used to be before/after pics somewhere on the internet ages ago for justin harris can only seem to find the after pic atm .. there was a considerable difference in lat width though

was reading up on this a few days ago, dante had pics up on a forum comparing his shoulder width between a pic of recent and pics in his teens

although he looked so much wider its debatable whether or not it happened cause of his techniques (different from his scapular manipulation techniques) or just the obvious fact that hes packed on so much muscle

Keep in mind I haven't read those threads in probably a year (and can't find them now to confirm), but these were my thoughts at the time as well.

My recollection is that there was an immediate "pop" associated with the technique, meaning that the differences should have been noticeable immediately, not when there was 2 years and 35 pounds of extra muscle to show off as in the case of the Justin Harris photos.

If anyone can find the quotes from IM I'd love to read them again, I cant remember the names of the threads they were in for the life of me.

Lonnie123 wrote:Keep in mind I haven't read those threads in probably a year (and can't find them now to confirm), but these were my thoughts at the time as well.

My recollection is that there was an immediate "pop" associated with the technique, meaning that the differences should have been noticeable immediately, not when there was 2 years and 35 pounds of extra muscle to show off as in the case of the Justin Harris photos.

If anyone can find the quotes from IM I'd love to read them again, I cant remember the names of the threads they were in for the life of me.

I understand why Dante won't speak about it and since Blackaggar didn't say anything I'm not saying either.

I knew you would know about it

If you dig deep enough you will find it but its not something I would talk about

Yeah man, I read up on some old thread were Dante talked about it a while ago and just went to the gym to experiment a bit.

Then I heard the "pop" and felt the stabbing pain and knew I had done something right.

DanielDJ wrote:

Blackaggar wrote:

DeltaOne wrote:<- It works and hurts pretty fucking bad.

I understand why Dante won't speak about it and since Blackaggar didn't say anything I'm not saying either.

I knew you would know about it

If you dig deep enough you will find it but its not something I would talk about

do you or delta believe in his other 2 manipulations or had any success with them

ribcage expansion as well as the shoulder girdle/width

and in regards to scapular manipulation were you lucky enough to get both sides done in the same time span

asking out of curiosity

Ribcage expansion can fuck you up if you're not carefull, so I never dug around about it or tried to do it.

Scapular poping does help a lot with back width but, seriously, it's..."dangerous" per say, and you need to know what you are doing, reason why Aggar and I are not talking about it (also cause I think Dante has better judgement, so if he doesn't think it's wise to share the knowledge, so do I). I only did it once to both sides and I saw amazing difference in my lat spread. Go to IM and read up on what Dante said about this, especially the part about Ribcage expansion.

BTW man, I got your PM but I can't answer it, pms were turned off, email is in my hub, or you can PM hlss and ask him for my email.